Global Media Policy Seminar Series | Chris Conder (Broadband for the Rural North)

[@chrisconder]

Hi Carolyn, yes, all the families dug their own bit of the duct in, from their property boundary to their house. If they couldn't do it themselves then friends and neighbours or the core volunteers helped them. All this built the network of people, which is just as important as the physical network itself.

[@chrisconder]

hi Nicole , before our project started we had spent years talking and visiting other communities in the UK to see how they were bridging the digital divide. We were part of a group called cbn, the Community Broadband network, and we made lots of friends and learned lots of ways of getting the connection to remote areas. The main issue we couldn't fix was access to affordable backhaul, so one of the main members (Lindsey Annison) undertook a trip to America, and learned how they were doing it - and all this info fed into our plans, so yes we did learn from others. We are also pretty sure our project could be replicated in Africa, if enough people got behind it.

[@liveuk]

The African version is called the Leyepost project and B4RN generously donated the WiFi mesh boxes and equipment to us. More details here, m.facebook.com/leyetpost This project is solar powered CCTV posts with WiFi access from them.

[@chrisconder]

@@liveuk we have some more ready for you, not enough to fill the pallet yet though. Glad you are making use of the stuff! Keep the faith xxx